Don't be Browbeaten, be Brow-beautiful!

As much as we'd all love to teeter from one beauty appointment to another, in between shopping trips and long lunches with friends, real life kicks in (sigh!). We don't all have the time and the money to place our beautifying in the hands of others, so let's DIY those brows at home!

As tempting as it is, we should never pluck above our brows, only beneath their natural arch.

To make it as pain-free as possible, have an ice cube on hand to numb the area to be plucked beforehand, and to reduce the redness afterwards.

And finally, keep those brows in check on the cheap - no expensive eyebrow brushes or pencils required. Simply take an old toothbrush and spray with hairspray, and brush it over your brows. Perfection!

Audrey Hepburn, eat your heart out!

Shine Be Gone!

Ever looked in the mirror and found your make-up starting to slide slowly down your face - usually after a hectic day at the office or running around after the kids?! Or realised that you're looking a little too shiny to just pass it off as your 'natural glow'. Don't worry - it's happened to us all!

Try a fantastic little product I discovered purely by accident in a little chemist: Corn Silk Pressed Powder Original Satin. It leaves your skin reassuringly matte but not looking like you put your make-up on with a trowel. Think fresh-faced but still polished.

Give it a try - you won't ever look back!

Manicure Magic!

So you've showered, dressed, put on your make-up and painted your nails. You're taking a leisurely sip on your Cosmopolitan (so SATC circa 2005, I hear you cry, but be honest, we all still drink them really...), when you realise you're running late! And, horror of horrors, your nail varnish is still wet. Oh calamity!

Never fear, Solar Oil is here! Just apply a drop over each wet nail, and as well as conditioning your cuticles and nails, it will dry your nail varnish in next to no time, and leave it looking deliciously glossy!

Panic over. So why not just kick back with another cocktail and take your time. Remember, it's always fashionable to be late, darling!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Now that the glorious sunshine's here it's time to start thinking about de-fuzzing. Yep, we're going to have to start baring our pins, so we need the hair to hit the road!

At least 3 hours before you shave, wax or epilate, moisturise the area in question and the hair will come out so much more smoothly (and leave you looking less like a plucked chicken).

Now grab your suncream and chick lit and hit the beach!

Hands that do dishes

You knew the day would come eventually. Kim and Aggie finally insisted on having a day off and you have to do your own cleaning.

This is truly bad news, but it needn’t be so for your hands. Put on a good layer of your favourite hand cream, pop on your trusty cotton gloves underneath your rubber ones and – hey presto – beautifully soft hands and a clean house!
Do make sure you borrow Kim and Aggie’s fancy rubber gloves though dear – those grubby old Marigolds just won’t do, even if you are elbow deep in filth.

Bouffant SOS

Had your hair done for a big event, but still have to bathe? No problem!

Just make sure you run the cold water before the hot and you'll avoid a steam cloud deflating and frizzing up your beautiful 'do' in one deft movement.

Now add lashings of your favourite bubble bath, a glass of champagne, and you're good to go. Enjoy!

Luscious lashes!

Before applying your mascara, dust your lashes with loose powder - they'll seem so much thicker!

If money allows, use black mascara on the upper lashes and brown on the lower lashes, for a more natural look.

And finally, when you've taken your make-up off at the end of a long, tiring, but no doubt glamorous day, rub a little Vaseline (sorry, can't help myself - I love the stuff!) into your lashes to condition them.

How's that for whistlestop beauty?!

One big smile and a Whole Lotta Style

Whilst the magical world of beauty products is what we're all about, don't forget that a simple smile is your most beautiful accessory.

Light up your face, and brighten someone's day. Keep smiling!

Spring clean your skin without cleaning out your purse

A simple but cost-effective little trick is to take any old cheap moisturiser, mix in copious amounts of sugar, and hey presto you have yourself an exfoliator! I cannot stress enough how this should be done with sugar and not salt, as I discovered much to my cost. Salt does the job – and more! – but by removing several layers of skin and lending your complexion a charming beetroot hue. It will also render you incapable of painfree speech and movement for quite some time. Suffering to be beautiful - perhaps, but suffering in order to leave yourself an angry, red-faced, child-scaring monster – a little less appealing. If you’re now tempted to go and try this ‘just to see’, please remember, I did warn you…

Ooh la la, who smells so good?

“A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future” – Coco Chanel, so ladies, let’s make sure we’re applying it, and applying it right!

They say you should spritz wherever you want to be kissed, but I’ll leave that to your imagination, and discretion!

If in doubt, behind the ears and knees, on the wrists and in your hair are the best places. Spray a fine mist into the air and walk under it for maximum coverage and effect. And if you can smell it then you’re wearing too much.

Still, better over-dressed than under-dressed I always say. Happy spritzing!

3 Cheers for Vaseline!!

Ladies (or indeed gentlemen), if you are prone, as I am, to insisting upon taking out a teeny tiny Tinkerbelle-esque clutch bag for those wonderful, but all too rare, glamorous nights out, and then being left crestfallen when hubby informs you his pockets are full, when you haven’t even begun to load him up with half the products you need, then I may be able to help.

It was just such an event that led to this discovery – Vaseline. Now, do bear with me – I am not, of course, suggesting that I discovered Vaseline itself (but oh how I wish that I had), merely it’s many many uses. It can turn it’s hand, as I’m sure most of us know, to the balming of lips, but did you also know that it makes a superb highlighter for cheeks, and eyelids, affording you a healthy, radiant glow (unless of course applied in excess, which will lead to any potential admirers running for the hills in fright, and the more hardy suitors sliding immediately off your face in a sea of grease).

It can of course be used as a moisturiser (although again, in moderation) for particularly stubborn dry patches, such as washday hands, and fake tan-guzzling knees, elbows and ankles, although why any of these afflictions should be concerning you whilst out on the town is beyond me! Perhaps we may have drifted from the point a little….

Suffice it to say, I am so so glad that on that wonderful night as my husband rushed me out the door (I was allegedly running late) I grabbed ‘only’ my lip balm, little realising just how right that little tin would see me. And it fitted in my bag!

Nail varnish know-how!

Here's a fantastic little trick I picked up purely by accident, whilst running late for a wedding, having still not showered or painted my toenails! Wishing to neither arrive unwashed nor have feet like a griffin, I decided to combine the two activities, so dived into the shower with my toenail varnish newly applied, expecting to end up in a sea of Misty Buff. But, lo and behold I stepped out of the shower with perfectly polished toes, the shower water having somehow magically hardened ('dried' hardly seems like the right word) my varnish! I've never looked back, so girls, when you need heavenly feet in a hurry, jump in the shower!